Renée Peck

Renee Peck, editor of NolaVie, worked for 32 years as a feature editor and writer at The Times-Picayune, earning Associated Press and Press Club of New Orleans awards along the way. She helped launch the first Times-Picayune website in the 1990s, when the Internet was in its infancy. Among her past titles are Food Editor, Entertainment Editor, TV Editor, Assistant Living Editor, and Home and Garden Editor. Her This Mold House column chronicled with humor and inexpertise her rebuilding efforts post-Katrina. Her Big Easy Living column for NolaVie explores the way we live in this always entertaining but sometimes uneasy city. Email her at Renee@nolavie.com.

Ways to Connect

If it’s Mother’s Day, it must be termite swarm season. Few people know this fact better than Zack Lemann. He is the chief entomologist at the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, where he indulges his lifelong love of New Orleans and all of its six-legged denizens. So why does he live, breath and yes, even eat insects? NolaVie’s Renée Peck met with Zack to find out.

Going to war takes courage. Sometimes, coming home takes the same. U.S. combat veterans who have survived life-threatening injuries can find the transition from hot zone to home life a difficult one. In New Orleans, an organization called Bastion is lending a hand. NolaVie’s Renée Peck spoke to founder Dylan Tête about the community he is building in Gentilly for wounded veterans and their families.

New Orleans after dark skews toward the spiritual, and it always has. This year the Hermann-Grima House has teamed up with the Tennessee Williams Festival to look into this fascinating aspect of New Orleans lore. As part of their investigation, they have invited local spiritual medium Juliet Pazera to lead a Victorian-style séance at this historic home in the French Quarter.

It’s not an idea that’s new. For centuries, New Orleanians have been taking in lodgers. But technology and a changing culture have transformed the way house rentals work. Airbnb and other sites are making short-term rental options not only easier, but also vastly more widespread. NolaVie’s Renée Peck spoke with attorney Andrew Legrand about the short-term rental ordinance recently passed by the New Orleans City Council, and what it means for locals.

In a world that is increasingly connected digitally, we are probably getting more and more disconnected socially. Oswald Cooper, better known as "Oz The Dance Doctor," is out to change that. Oz leads the Who Dat Steppers of New Orleans. Stepping is a type of social dance rooted in African-American history, and it’s making a comeback across the country.

Fine art is becoming a virtual reality. More specifically, Google has compiled a vast, virtual museum to take online patrons into the collections of hundreds of institutions around the world. One of these Google Arts & Culture partners is the New Orleans Museum of Art. Renée Peck recently spoke with Seth Boonchai, digital assets manager at NOMA, about the evolution of their virtual museum.

In a city where Halloween is just one of many opportunities to dig through the costume closet, there's never a wrong time to reinvent yourself. NolaVie’s Renée Peck spoke with local fashion designer Alicia Zenobia, who creates Joy Suits, shiny second skins that spark reinvention for all occasions, costume parties and otherwise.

The Saints take to the Dome for a big game on Monday night. But not all the action is generated by the players on the field. Fans are pumping up to express the indefinable spirit that is Saints culture -- everything from dance moves by the 610 Stompers to chants of "Who Dat!" NolaVie's Renee Peck talks to the Saints' Director of Game Day Entertainment, Jared Sampson, to find out about the elaborate planning that goes into entertainment at the Superdome.

Jazz Fest takes up so much of our collective consciousness in New Orleans that many may not know that the Festival’s nonprofit arm keeps the music on all year round. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation is dedicated to promoting all facets of our music culture from African drumming to Zydeco. NolaVie’s Renée Peck spoke with Scott Aiges, Director of Programs, Marketing and Communications, about tradition and transformation in New Orleans music today.

WWNO has lost a dear member of its community in Sharon Litwin, co-founder and president of NolaVie. She passed away Friday, June 24, 2016.

Sharon played an important role in the growth of WWNO's local news and cultural reporting. Our listeners are invited to join a public celebration of her life at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 21, 2016 at the Pavilion of the Two Sisters in New Orleans City Park.